1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement in packaging of endless belt material to restrict folding or kinking the belts during shipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Endless abrasive belts have been sold in nests of 3-5 belts for convenience of shipping and the nested belts tend to support each other and decrease the possible folding or creasing of the belt. Belt kinks or folding cause cracks or tears in the belts and are most prevalent in coarse grit abrasive cloth belts and fine grit abrasive cloth and paper belts. These conditions are deleterious to the life of the endless belt. It has therefore been necessary to devise means for packaging the nested belts to avoid the development of folds or creases in one or more of the belts in the nest. Referring to the drawing which accompanies this application there is indicated in FIG. 1 a package of belts called a single coil nest. This nest of five belts has a first core which may be 3 inches in inside diameter positioned in one end of the nest and the nest is folded around a larger core of approximately 5-7 and then the nest extends back around the first end, over the larger roller and a third core is placed in the other end of the nest. It is found that if a box enclosing a single coil nest is dropped, kinks can develop in the belt at the areas indicated by the arrow 7 because the core in the end adjacent that area will move upward in the belt.
FIG. 2 shows a package called a double coil nest. In the double coil nest 3-5 belts the ends are positioned adjacent each other and cores may be placed in these ends. The ends are then folded together into the interior of the rest of the nest. In this type of the coil the nest often develops cracks at the areas indicated by the arrows 11.
Because of the expense of large abrasive belts which may be 1 inch to 52 inches in width and which may be from 25 to 1211/2 inches long, it is very disturbing to have the same shortened in life because of a poor or impractical method of shipping such belts.
It has therefore been an area of research to develop a way of packaging the single or double-coil nest to permit the shipment of endless abrasive belts without the belts being damaged and their useful life shortened due to kinks or folds.